You missed it, Joey Crimmins! Two groups of twenty or so back to volunteer with us on their 6th or 7th trip to Tuscaloosa.
     Continuing on two homes on Juanita Drive, picking up where Mercedes left off last week, helping to build the future homes of Ms . Marphus (#24) and Ms. Craig (#110).
     Chuck and Donna Hawley have been leading groups of volunteers since 2006. This trip with us this last week is their 19th since 2006. They are mostly from Frederick, Md. They have done numerous trips to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and this is their 7th trip with us to Tuscaloosa. Chuck has T-shirts printed up for each trip and told me that he hasn't duplicated any color yet for any of the 19 shirts. He brought me one of the coveted shocking pink one from years ago to me this time. Most of the men and women in the group are experienced at construction which makes it a great joy for us when they appear. Over the years they have picked up people from other states as well that become like family members to their group. BJ is from Indiana. Jeanne Kozak is from West(by God) Virginia. Gary is from Northern Va.(my old stomping ground).
     One tradition that I enjoy when Chuck's group shows up is that usually don't have to pack a lunch on the week that they are here . Chuck takes it upon himself to pay a visit to many of the local restaurants, explain that they have a group of 30 or so people who have given up their time for this week to help rebuild their town and wouldn't they like to cater lunch for us? Most of the time, the "ask" yields some good result. Tazikis, Newk's, Chick Fila and many others have contributed to the cause to help the army that marches on its stomach.
     Lori Ritter Brawn also brought a group of nearly twenty folks from Ziegles church in Pennsylvania. Most of the group is from there but they too, have picked up people from other states as well. Mike Psineka is in that group and wife Deb and son Ryan came along this year also. Terry has been on most of the builds also-
     The third and smaller group was 5 RV Care-A-Vanners. These folks travel around the country in different sized Rv's, ranging in size from a tent and a car (Joy and Bob last week) to Class A rigs and 5th wheels. Most of these folks are also pretty handy and are a great partner to our mission .
    We also had a group of two, the California Girls, we called them. Veta and Sparky from Berkley and LA spent the week with us and were the only guests at the Y's Acres.
      We mixed the groups up a bit on Monday so that they could get to meet new people. We basically finished the exterior of both houses in the five days. One break from tradition occurred also in that the metal roofs were installed with non-Mennonite help. Brandon finished his completely and mine mostly got done, but needs all the trim pieces put on this week.
     Enjoying this lovely fall weather here, although this week also saw the last day of biness for the Summer Snow stand that was a big hit with most the volunteers during the hot summer.  Trent, one of our Mennonite friends was on a mission while here to taste all of the 43 flavors of the shaved ice treat while he was here, although on his last day, he had to ask for a triple flavored one to get them all.
     Mary, Alex and Ben all grew to love these new friends and we had difficulty breaking up at the end of the days work on Friday, with everyone standing around in the driveways giving hugs and goodbyes. Oh, well. They'll be back.
     Saturday, Mary and I almost got overwhelmed by about 30 University Campus Chapter volunteers., led by Michelle Manning. Did lots of painting, took down the scaffold at 24 and also dabbled with the metal roof with some of the guys.
     That's all for this week...Love you all.   Peter